This book is written by the youngest daughter of one of my best childhood friends, Diane. Melanie is my youngest sister's best friend and we all grew up in central New York State. Melanie lives in my childhood hometown! This is her third young adult fiction book.
STORY SUMMARY
Ellie (Elise) is a single mom, a widow, to two children: Morgan, age 16, and Connor, age 5. Ellie has returned to her childhood summer camp, known as the lake house. She plans on fixing it up and selling it because it is surrounded by tragedy and Ellie just wants to move on with her life.
Sixteen years ago, when Ellie was just 16, her little brother Johnny died in a drowning accident at the lake. This left her own mother emotionally and mentally fragile and her mom (June) was placed in a mental facility. She no longer talks and doesn't even recognize Ellie. There are many secrets surrounding the year that Ellie was 16.
While she is trying to give her children a normal, fun summer at the lake, old buried secrets begin to come to light. And James is back. James was her crush all those years ago. Little does James know.....Morgon is really his child!
All of these secrets...and more...come to light as the book evolves.
What did happen with Johnny? Was Ellie really at fault like she has always believed, or was it really her grandmother? And are there really spirits that can protect us?
What does June's journal reveal?
All of these, and more, are found in these pages.
MY THOUGHTS
This book is more like a novella. It reads like a typical Nicholas Sparks book and has mystery, drama, romance and a little bit of suspense. It's a trope that has definitely been overdone in so many romance books and one in which I tend to avoid for the most part. Yes, it ended very typically.
What I loved about this story was that it seemed to be set in the foothills of the Adirondack mountains (although the setting is not specified). I also loved the cover art and it totally drew me in to wanting to know more about this quaint little cottage. I have a thing for cottages on lakes. The description of the surroundings is very well done! Whomever designed the cover art did a fantastic job!
The character development, although very typical in this type of genre, was well executed. I was wishing the book were more about Morgan than Ellie! Morgan was a fun, typical teenage character but also has a lot of depth to her. I feel like the author could really develop this character in maybe a sequel or a book all on its own.
The relationship between Ellie and Morgan is well thought out and I enjoyed that aspect of the characters. I also loved that Morgan really does care about her little brother even though she finds him annoying. The "family feel" of this book is excellent.
The author's description of sitting on the porch with a nice, chilled glass of pinot grigio made my mouth water. I loved that!! Such nice imagery.
However, this book also has many editing errors and for that reason I cannot give it a higher rating. Melanie herself is an editor and in my opinion, she probably should have edited her own book. Here are some examples of what I found:
The use of the word "her" and "she" was not done correctly in one instance and in fact, both pronouns were used in the same sentence but it should have read "She and ____ "vs "her and____) (see page 116)
On page 106, the word "reigns" is used when it should be "reins". ("it was probably a good time to loosen the reins on her" is how it should read).
There were many articles left out of sentences throughout the story such as the word "to" and "a" (see page 124 for one example: "It took about half hour..." should read "it took about a half hour" or "it took about half an hour") and the word "begin" was used in two different places that the editor overlooked when it should have read "being". (page 147: "Was I overreacting---being dramatic...." is what should be there not "begin dramatic"). Little things like that are huge in making a book stand out.
Page 216 uses the word "hear" when it should be "here" ("she and i knew each other because she came up here "...instead of "came up hear" ).
The author does a good job, though, on the use of foreshadowing particularly on pages 106 and 116.
I loved that Ellie's thoughts are in italics and I liked that there was a different font for June's journal, however, that font was cumbersome to a reader because it was very small. A different small font that's bolder would have been easier on the eyes.
Overall, this is a good story for a fledgling author and I'm proud of Melanie for having the guts to self-publish her work. I wish her much success as she continues to develop her craft.
I also hope she gets a different editor who has a better eye for errors for any future books!
In my opinion, this book is appropriate for ages 10 and older.
On a scale of 1-10, with 10 being the highest, I rate this a 7.
4 comments:
Thank you for the review. I did somewhat base the area on Old Forge, as it is familiar to me. I had thought about a sequel, more about Morgan, but have been working on other things.
As for the editing, it's unfortunate that I uploaded the un-proofed manuscript when I changed from KDP to IngramSpark. I had been proofed many times after editing. That will be fixed this week.
If anyone should read this or any of my other books (I have three adult fiction and several children's books published) and spot any errors, kindly email me so I can rectify them. I have read many books that have had multiple errors (including Stephen King!!) and it does bother me when there are many, but it does happen.
Thanks Melanie!! OOH....a book about Morgan would be so cool!!
The non fiction memoir i'm currently reading is full of missing articles ("to", "the", "so"). I guess it's hard to find a good editor!!
I actually had a very good editor. As I explained, it was my fault because I uploaded the wrong manuscript, the one that hadn’t been final proof read. My bad lol ;)
I have yet to read this book, but I have added it to my TBR list and cannot wait to dive in!! As an avid supporter of indie authors, I am always on the lookout for fresh and unique stories. When you compared it to a Nicolas Sparks novel, my interest was immediately piqued. But… what sold me completely was your mention of only a few errors in the book! As someone who reads voraciously, it's always frustrating to come across constant mistakes in even the most highly-rated books. And don't even get me started on the unfair criticism indie authors receive for minor slip-ups, while traditional authors seem to get a free pass. Did you see all the errors in Iron Flame and the issues with the prints!!? It’s wild! If that had been an Indie author, they would have been DRAGGED!!! But enough about that- let's talk about the cover. It's absolutely stunning! I can't wait to dive into this book and see if our opinions align, although based on your generous ratings thus far, I don’t know if we will! As an educated individual with a Master of Education in Education, maybe I am simply more discerning when it comes to literature. In any case, I will check this one out!!
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